


Winfedol

by Angelicat2



Series: Sheith Month 2019 [13]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crying Shiro (Voltron), Day 16-unrequited, Hanahaki Disease, Near Death, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Sheith Month 2019, Sick Keith (Voltron), Unrequited Love, angry krolia, i remember when that wasn't a tag on here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 14:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19793236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelicat2/pseuds/Angelicat2
Summary: After the lions crash back to Earth, the doctors doing surgery on Keith end up removing the flowers from his chest. Little does anyone know how much being half Galra affects Keith when the flowers are gone. Things only seem to go downhill from there.





	Winfedol

**Author's Note:**

> So it's unrequited love for a bit...but not by choice...it'll make sense when you read it...
> 
> Enjoy!

Krolia notices it as soon as Keith wakes from the coma.

She hopes she’s wrong. Being human and having what she thinks happened is bad enough. Add in the Galra side of it, and Keith was never going to be the same. She saw it as soon as he woke up. It was in the middle of Shiro’s speech, but Krolia paid no attention to that as her son peeked open his eyes, dark orbs sliding over to look at her.

He smiled at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes. 

Krolia hopes it was just from the trauma of falling in his lion and awaking from a month long coma. But she knows differently the second time he wakes up. During that time, the rest of his team is there, waiting for him to come to. Lance and Allura hang off to the side of the room, leaning against each other contently as Lance shows the Altean pictures of stuff on Earth that even Krolia had never seen before. Hunk and Romelle sit in the corner, discussing their next set of meals they might try to make sometime. The Yellow Paladin still has a bandage on his arm where it smashed into his lion’s controls. Pidge beside her with her computer out and eyes gleaming as she typed steadily. Krolia herself was sitting talking slowly with Coran near the bed, but far enough away not to disturb her son.

And Shiro…

“Come on, Keith,” Krolia can hear the man whisper to her son as he rubs Keith’s hand in a comforting manner. The human had been by Keith’s side the whole time while he was in his coma, never leaving his side unless duty called, and only if it was urgent. 

Krolia could see that Keith meant as much to Shiro as he meant to her son. She saw the small kisses Shiro snuck in when he figured no one was looking. She noticed the holds he kept on his hand, and the tears that would not leave his eyes as Keith slept on with no clear clue of when - or if - he’d wake.

A tiny groan pulled the room into complete silence. Krolia whipped her head back to her son, seeing him beginning to wake up. Eyelashes quivered softly as he peeled his eyes open, likely from all the painkillers in his system. A few seconds later, they glanced around the room before going back to the blanket on his chest. 

“H-hey,” Keith croaked from not using his voice for so long. That was all it took for the others to jump up to Keith’s side, shouting with happiness and joy at seeing their friend alive and awake.

“Keith!”

“You’re awake!”

“Oh, man! We missed you!”

“Yeah, welcome back, Samurai.”

“It’s good to have you back.”

Krolia gave them the moment. She had already seen him awake, so she was in no hurry as she watched the group. They were all content and no one was free of teary eyes...except Keith.

Her son oddly had almost no expression on his face. A small lift of his lip was there, but like before, it never reached his eyes. Krolia zoned in on his body, which wasn’t moving at all, which was strange. If there was anything she learned from holding Keith as a baby and seeing his memories, Keith was always moving. Before she could say anything, Keith interrupted them.

“What’s g-going on?”

Everyone paused as they glanced at each other. Keith didn’t seem to notice as Shiro shot Krolia a confused look.

This wasn’t like Keith. He would have said something back to all their exclamations. Especially Shiro’s. It was a phrase they shared, and Krolia knew they never failed to respond back with their own statement.

 _“It’s good to be back,”_ should have been what Keith said. But instead, he just looked at them dully, any emotion gone from his eyes. He didn’t even spare Shiro a glance, which really had Krolia concerned. Her son did not just not look at the man he loved. When they returned back from their fight, Keith was always watching Shiro.

“You...uh...” Lance spoke up, “We all fell back to Earth after we got rid of the bomb that went off. We kinda crashed back here, man.”

“And we all got injured,” Hunk picked up as Keith continued at stare at the blanket with no expression, “But you were in a coma. We’ve been worried.”

“Oh,” Keith stated softly before he looked out the window, “So what happened while we were out?”

“Keith,” Shiro frowned when Keith didn’t look at him. Soon enough, Shiro’s mechanical hand pulled Keith’s chin back to look at them gently, “We just told you that you were in a coma, I think we should talk about this some more.”

“We can talk about what is going on elsewhere,” Keith stared off to the side without looking at any of them. Krolia’s thoughts from earlier burst back to full memory as she almost growled. Her son...She was going to murder whoever did this to her son.

“Who performed the surgery?” Krolia asked suddenly as she pulled herself up. The others gave her a raised brow in confusion, all except Keith who didn’t even seem excited to see her. And she knew exactly why he wasn’t.

How dare they.

Krolia nearly grabbed her blade and took off in search of the nearest medical doctor. They did it. They destroyed her son. Why the hell did they do it and not tell her? Or Shiro? The man was here by his best friend's side the whole time. Why did they not say anything! Why did they do it at all. It should have been by someone's consent. And Keith...in all this...didn't have a choice...

"Krolia?" Shiro asked as she started for the door, "What's wrong?"

She debated letting them have their innocent thoughts still. They probably thought it was just the drugs in Keith's system that made him act this way. But she had to tell them. They were his friends, his teammates, his makeshift somewhat-family. They deserved to know.

"Whoever did surgery on my son removed the flowers," a few gasps echoed around the room, none of them having known that Keith even had hanahaki for most of their time in space, "And Keith takes after his Galra side on that. Scarlet winfedols, a Galran flower I haven't seen in decades...I should have known."

"Winfedols?" Coran asked as he grinned softly towards Keith, but then frowned when the younger didn't react, "Why I remember them! Beautiful beyond anything I have ever seen. A bit razor sharp on the edges, but if you knew where it touch it, it was soft as could be. Able to grow anywhere, especially more harsh desert landscapes, but thrives when given lots of simple attention."

The perfect description of Keith himself. 

"Us Galra feel a lot of emotions, intensely. We feel more than almost any other group of people. To you, being lonely makes you feel a pang in your chest, but the same emotion for us is like a knife digging into our sternum," she tried to explain as some of the team went pale. Shiro stayed firm, so he must have known this, probably just from his longtime experience with Keith's emotions. Even Allura and Coran didn't seem aware of it, "A crush is butterflies in your tummy, but to us, it's fire in our veins. Love…"

She paused as she stared at her son, who still stared out the window blankly, as if no thoughts were roaming in his head at that moment. Just blank as could be. Her heart broke at the sight.

Keith was so young. He had a life to live. He should be out being a young adult, not stuck here in this hospital bed with the inability to even register emotions. He should be celebrating with his friends instead of in here staring out the window without a bit of any emotion on his face. He should be demanding that Shiro wrap him up in a familiar hug instead of ignoring everything around him. 

This was wrong.

"Love is so much harder to describe for us," she frowned slightly as she turned her eyes back to the group, "When I first met Keith's father, we had a lot to learn. He didn't feel as intensely as I did, I didn't understand why he felt more dulled. But we understood after some time. There's differences between our races, which sadly also affect our hanahaki. As you know, when a human's flowers are removed, their feelings for those they believe are unrequited die off, just like the flowers themselves. The memories stay, but there’s no love tied to them anymore."

Almost everyone nodded, including the Alteans.

"But in the Galra," Krolia's gaze hardened as she forced her tears back, glancing again at her son who continued staring out the window like a statue, "In the Galra, emotion is important. We feel emotions much more, and when the flowers are gone, so are our emotions. All of them. I’ve seen a few of our Blades, some who I trained, who went through with the surgery, and they...they were never the same again."

The group's eyes widened as they stared from her to Keith and back. Shiro took a step forward but paused for a second, grey eyes on her with the saddest shine to them. Krolia didn't completely know Shiro as well as her son did, but her heart broke all over for the man who clearly loved her boy. 

"Is…" Pidge stepped closer, worry and tears in her eyes, "Is there something we can do for...to help Keith?"

"No," Krolia spoke softly as she shook her head, "There's nothing we can do. In theory, if Keith would have a relapse and the flowers regrow, then we do something. But he’d have to learn to relove again, and...we’ve never had anyone do that before. That’s why it’s a theory…"

The group was silent. Krolia sighed quietly before she left them be. She needed to get her emotions straight and then go talk to some people.

…..

They tried everything to reawaken that love Keith had had before.

Shiro had quickly learned that he had been the one Keith had loved. It hurt that he was learning it like this. Shiro had felt the same way back, but had been too late.

So Shiro took Keith out to the cliffs like they used to and convinced him to race him. They both spent time together like before. Anything to retrigger Keith’s love for Shiro. Weeks wore on as they all helped Earth rebuild. It didn’t seem to be helping. Keith was still the same blank slate every day as if his personality...His _fire_ had been stomped out and turned into ice. Actually, no...Ice would have been something. It was more like his fire had been put out, gone with a single wind.

Shiro was breaking a little more everyday that Keith looked at him like he wasn’t his best friend. It hurt when Keith didn’t praise Kosmo who seemed aware something was wrong and was being such a good boy, even fetching sticks for Keith. Interaction with the others was getting nowhere as Keith acted like they were nothing more than co-workers and the others feeling too awkward and bad about their own past mistakes and attitudes towards Keith. Keith and his mom…

This was all a mess. If only Shiro could go back to sleep and wake before the crash...before the clone...before his death. He could have fixed this if he hadn’t been too far into denial. 

As it was, both he and Keith were currently in the desert, watching the sunset. Keith was staring at the light with a blank look, just watching it with glazed eyes. Shiro was staring at Keith the whole time, too awed and frightened to look away. 

“Should we be getting back?” Keith wondered as he continued to stare at the sunset, “The others probably need us by now.”

“If you want to,” Shiro shrugged slightly as Keith glanced at him, “But we don’t have to. We could watch the stars tonight, if you want.”

“Maybe,” Keith shrugged back as his voice stayed the same monotone it had been ever since that day in the hospital, “I’m getting a drink.”

Shiro tore his eyes away as Keith stood. The sunset was beautiful, sky in shades of pink, purple, orange, red, and blue. He had missed this in his time in space. No place quite had the sunsets Earth had...And no place quite held his heart like Keith did. 

A crashing noise had him snapping his head up. Glancing over, he almost shouted as he hastily got up to his feet, racing for the hoverbikes. Keith was gripping the seat of his vehicle, seeming to be in some type of pain as his arms strained. His dark eyes looked exhausted beyond relief as he held onto the seat.

“Keith!” Shiro gently grabbed him by his arms, helping him settle to the ground. The younger was shaky as his eyes narrowed, air wheezing in his chest as his temple rested against Shiro’s shoulder, “Keith! What’s wrong?”

“I’m t’red,” he responded back before shivering weakly, going a few shades lighter as he blinked his eyes slowly, groaning, “Don’t fe’l go’d.”

“Oh no,” Shiro felt Keith over, brushing his flesh hand over his forehead. Keith was cold and clammy, even though it was a warm day out, “Let’s get you back to your room, okay, buddy?”

Keith only responded with a groan, one that had Shiro’s heart racing faster. There was something wrong with Keith. There had to be. The older quickly wrapped his arms around the younger, picking him up as he got on his bike. He’d have someone come back and get the other one, but he didn’t have a lot time to get Keith back and find out what was wrong. Carefully, he placed the other before him so he could hold him to prevent him from sliding off the hoverbike. Keith rested limp against his chest, skin going even paler as he struggled to breathe. Shiro didn’t waste any time getting out of there as he prayed that Keith would make it to the hospital.

…..

“What do you mean my son’s dying!” Krolia’s voice boomed outside the room as Shiro held Keith’s hand. The younger was in a hospital bed again, face pale and exhausted as he slept in an unnatural drugged sleep. As soon as he arrived, he had gotten someone’s attention. They had taken the younger in to look him over, and currently, Keith’s mom was talking to the doctor. The others sat in the room with Shiro, after he had called them in. They were all listening solemnly to the conversation outside, only the beeps of Keith’s heart monitor making noise.

“What I mean,” the doctor spoke as they all held their breaths, “Is your son is slowly dying. It’s like he’s wilting away. He’s showing severe signs of anemia and malnutrition. That’s why his skin is so pale, why he’s having problems breathing, why he’s cold and clammy. Nothing we give him will help him. We’ve done an IV, but it’s not giving him any benefit. We’ve tried a feeding tube, but his body is rejecting any food or water we give him. If this continues, your son won’t have long. He’s already weak as it is and his immune system is bound to be low right now. We’ll have to keep an eye on him and see how he does. If he wakes up, call in the nurse.”

“I…” Krolia cut herself off with a tiny sob. Shiro shifted in his seat, eyes burning as he gripped Keith’s hand in his.

“I’m sorry,” the doctor stated softly, “We’re trying all we can to make sure he lives. Just...call us in if anything changes, okay? We’ll be there to help.”

“Thank you,” Krolia spoke as silence fell on them all. Moments passed before the door opened up. Shiro glanced over to see that Krolia was standing there, hand still on the door, staring at Keith sadly.

“I can move,” Shiro started to get up to offer her the only chair near Keith’s bed, but the woman only shook her head, placing her hand on Shiro’s shoulder.

“No,” she smiled sadly as she stood there, “He’d want you near.”

“So…” Pidge asked after a few seconds of quiet, “What’s wrong with Keith? Besides the anemia and malnutrition? No one gets sick that quickly.”

“I think it’s from the removal of his flowers,” Shiro snapped his eyes to Krolia and over to Keith before moving them back to the Galra, “It’s never done this in anyone else. It’s like he said...Keith’s wilting. He’s body is giving up, dying suddenly.”

“Is there something we can do?” Hunk asked with a frown, “I mean, can’t you do something, Allura?”

“I can try,” she spoke as her crystal blue eyes stared at Keith. She stood up, going to the other side of the bed before gently placing her hands on the other’s temples. A soft glow covered both as she closed her eyes. A few moments of this passed before it all stopped, “I can’t reach him. It’s like a wall is in place. I don’t think I can get it down. And even if I did, it would probably kill him.”

“There has to be something we can do,” Shiro frowned as he stared at Keith who had yet to move, “Let's get something figured up-"

"Shiro-"

"So that we can help him-"

"Shiro-"

"Get back on his feet-"

"Shiro!" 

Shiro snapped his attention to whoever had shouted. It was Allura, an apologetic look on her face. 

"There's nothing else we can do," she spoke with a frown, a tiny wobble in her voice, "It's up to Keith now."

"But-" 

"Shiro," Krolia stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, a reassuring smile, "He's a fighter. If I know anything about my son from what I've seen in the past three years, he won't give up. So stay with him and keep reminding him of that."

"I…" Shiro gulped before he nodded, looking over at Keith's pale face, "Okay. Thanks, Krolia."

"Any time, Shiro," she smiled back sweetly at him before leaving the room for a moment, carrying a chair back in with her and plopping it down by Keith's feet. Shiro himself just stared at Keith the whole time, silently willing the other man to wake.

…..

It only worsens. As the days drag on, Keith falls even more ill. He goes from pale to white as bones to grey like a corpse. He spends less and less time aware of what was going on around him, and when he is aware, he's in pain. He has to go on a breathing tube for awhile, but that is soon taken out when, it too, doesn’t help. By now, the doctors are estimating that he has a day...maybe hours left. They’re not sure if he’ll even make it through the night, so they forget about the visiting hours, letting them be in with Keith as much as they want.

Shiro doesn’t leave Keith’s side the whole time. He knows that people go in and out of the room, some of his friends, some nurses and doctors, sometimes a Blade member or two. Keith was well-respected like that, having left an impression on others. After all, he was a Paladin of Voltron and a Blade of the Marmora. That doesn’t surprise Shiro at all, since Keith had encaptured his attention when he was a teen, reckless and wild and hurt.

What does surprise him is the fact that some of the Garrison people come to see him. All of the MFEs come in, solemn like they are paying their respects to Keith. When three of them leave, Shiro notes that James stays behind. The younger doesn’t say anything as Shiro glances over at him. He merely steps to the foot of Keith’s bed with a strange look in his eyes, which are shining slightly. 

“He’s an idiot, you know that, right?” James voice breaks Shiro out of his head as he glances over at the other, “I saw it the moment we got into our fight back when we were cadets. He was gone for you...the moment I even said your name, he looked like he was going to murder me. I...I know I apologized to Keith already, but I could have been nicer. I could have picked on him less, been his friend a little more.”

Shiro doesn’t say anything, just letting the other talk.

“The pilot error really hurt him, you know that, right?” James stared at him with hard eyes, “He was a mess after the announcement. We all were, but it was worse for him…”

James stopped for a moment as silence settled on them.

“Just…” He paused before moving to the doorway, pausing to look back at him, “Just take care of him.”

And then he was gone. More people visited, some of which he didn’t expect to show. One happened to be Iverson who said something about how Keith was a good guy. Shiro smiled softly down at the younger, having known this since he first set eyes on the man. Soon enough, night fell, everyone else leaving the room to give him a private moment. He couldn’t even thank them as he sat by Keith’s side, silent and listening to the beeping of the heart monitor. Hours passed without any chance, Keith still sleeping deeply.

“Keith…” Shiro spoke up, remembering Keith calling his name when he had been in Black’s conscience. Maybe…“Keith.”

Only more beeps and silence answered him.

"I…" Shiro choked out as he held Keith's hand, face pressing against his chest as his tears littered onto the other's sleeping neck, "I can't do this without you, Keith. I need you. Please...please stay with me. I don't care if you can never love me back like I love you. Without you...I don't know what I would do. I don't know who I am. You've saved me so many times that it was impossible not to fall head over heels. You've grown from a troubled teen into a strong man. And I'm glad I got to be there by your side as much as I could."

Shiro laughed weakly as he squeezed his best friend's hand in his own, a sob on his lips as he moved his Altean arm to brush against the smooth scar on Keith's sleeping face, "I should have told you so much sooner. After I hurt you, I couldn't. I tried to, but it hurt too much. And I didn’t know...I didn’t know about the hanahaki...and I should have. I couldn’t tell you then, but I will now. If these...if these are the last words I can say at your side...then I can get it off my chest. I love you, Keith. I realized it when you saved me on that planet and told me that I'd make it even though...we both knew I was going to die anyway. I love you with everything I got...And I will not stop loving you. You're my brother, my best friend, my everything."

And then he cried. They were deep tears, ones that soaked into Keith's shirt. Shiro shut his eyes as he hugged Keith near, burying his face against the warmth of Keith's neck. Keith was dying, and he couldn't do anything. All because he had been too much of an idiot to tell Keith what he meant to him. 

Before he could cry anymore, Keith coughed roughly. Shiro pushed away from him, glancing up to see the younger was staring at him, tears in his eyes.

“Keith!” Shiro gripped his hand, which Keith tightened his hold on, “Keith.”

“You love me?” Keith asked in a soft, hoarse voice as he smiled softly at Shiro, “Like…”

“Yeah,” Shiro grinned back as he placed his flesh hand on Keith’s cheek, “I do. Always.”

Keith blinked before he bolted upright, coughing and hacking his lungs out. Shiro jumped up, supporting Keith so he wouldn’t fall over. What felt like an hour later, a whole flower fell from Keith's lips. It was beautiful, with dark scarlet petals shaped like glass shards. Little stripes of ebony and violet colored each petal along with a few drops of blood. Keith hacked a few more petals up before going quiet. Shiro almost had a heart attack, thinking that Keith had passed out or gone into another hazy blankness like before. Looking up at Keith, he gasped.

Keith looked better. The color was back on his face, peachy with tiny patches of pink on his cheeks. His eyes - oh, his beautiful star lit eyes - shone brightly with complete awareness. Keith wasn’t having any breathing problems, breath as smooth as ever. 

“It’s good to have you back, Keith,” Shiro breathed out softly as he held onto Keith’s hand.

“It’s good to be back,” Keith stated just as fondly, small tug on the corner of his lips, “Although I never really left.”

“Huh?” Shiro tilted his head.

“I remember everything that happened after the crash,” Keith explained as he stared at his hand in Shiro’s, “The bomb going off, the pain, Black screaming out as we both smashed into the ground...something about removing the flowers...waking up to mom and then you guys but not quite there...like there was a hazy film over everything and my body was running on autopilot. And then being sick, hearing your voice saying to stay with you.”

“So you remember?” Shiro trailed off, unsure if the younger would understand what he was asking.

“Yeah,” Keith snickered softly before his eyes slid up to Shiro’s face, “I remember doing everything we did before. The bike rides, watching the sunset, stargazing, being together. I had a great time, I just couldn’t express it. Thanks, Shiro.”

“No,” Shiro shook his head as he sat on the edge of the bed, hugging the other close before pressing his chin to silky black hair. Keith’s arms reached up on his back, hugging him too, “I need to thank you, Keith. You’ve been there so many times for me, and I’m so happy you fought. I’m so happy you came back.”

“I’m not leaving you, Shiro,” Keith whispered into his ear as he hugged him closer. Shiro laughed contentedly as he pressed his forehead against Keith’s who only smiled back, gentle tears sliding down his face. Shiro carefully wiped them away as Keith’s eyes grew tired again. But this time, Shiro knew it was from a natural need for sleep and not sickness. The younger pulled back with a yawn before relaxing on the pillow. A second passed before he scooted back sleepily which Shiro raised a brow at, “Wanna share the bed with me?”

Shiro snorted as he rolled his eyes, grinning as he settled in by Keith’s side. Carefully, he placed the winfedol on the table nearby with his Altean arm before he tucked the blanket over the both of them. Keith muttered something Shiro couldn’t understand as he rested his head on the older’s chest. Shiro didn’t need to understand the words to know what Keith really meant.

“Love you too, Keith,” the man spoke as he laid his head by Keith’s, breathing in the scent that only described Keith and Keith alone. Smiling softly, he soon fell asleep with the warm bundle on his chest.


End file.
